Snow clearance or should that be No clearance?

Cycled to the Trafford Centre today and came across a clear example of the lack of priority given to ensuring that cycle lanes are useable throughout the year.

The road space has been gritted and was clear of snow and ice but the cycle lane element of the shared use area has not been cleared. 

In November 2010, the local newspaper reported Alan Mitchell (Executive councillor for Highways) as saying: "Having these quad bikes available for use gives us much more flexibility than we had last year in terms of gritting priority pedestrian routes."

Perhaps Trafford Council could send them down to the Trafford Centre......

If the pavements or cycle lanes near you have not been cleared then Councillor Alan Mitchell can be contacted via this email alan.mitchell@trafford.gov.uk 

Christmas Crackers!

Ho ho ho... now I know this is supposed to be the season of goodwill and all that...... but this short stretch of cycle lane seems to be even more crackers than normal....


It is to be found on national cycle route 85 at the entrance to Painswick Park in Wythenshawe (see photo below). 








A box of lovely veggie mince pies to anyone who can tell us:

• what purpose this cycle serves

• when it was installed, and

• how much it cost?

.... and may you all have a happy festive season!

"Form two lanes when cycle lane is not in use" - you cannot be serious!

Earlier this year, Manchester City Council's Highway Services published a consultation entitled "Hyde Road Cycle Casualty Reduction Scheme - Improving Cycling Facilities in Your Area".

The consultation leaflet highlighted that "over the past five years, thirteen collisions involving cyclists have been reported along Hyde Road. Locations where collisions have been reported breakdown into the following clusters:  Hyde Rd/Belle Vue Street, Hyde Road/Hengist Street and Hyde Road/Tan Yard Brow."

As part of these "improvements" an advisory cycle lane was installed on both side of the A57 in the vicinity of Tan Yard Brow (see google map) in late March / early April. It was reported that local residents and some bus operators had complained to Manchester City Council that these cycle lanes were causing peak time congestion. One local councillor Simon Ashley (who was not re-elected in May's local elections) claimed that these cycle lanes had “caused mayhem, queues and average delays of half an hour, with long tailbacks at the junction with Reddish Lane.” and welcomed "the Council's decision to remove cycle lanes on Hyde Rd”.  (Press release dated 6th April 2011).  However, it would seem that Manchester City Council had decided not to remove the cycles lanes but instead opted to install signs that read "Form two lanes when cycle lane not in use". 

Those nice people at Love You Bike were a little puzzled by these signs as it would appear that Manchester City Council Highways Service is encouraging drivers to break the Highway Code. Rule 140 of which states: 

“Cycle lanes. These are shown by road markings and signs. You MUST NOT drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a solid white line during its times of operation. Do not drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a broken white line unless it is unavoidable. You MUST NOT park in any cycle lane whilst waiting restrictions apply". (Emphasis added]. The phrase “unless it is unavoidable” would mean something like swerving out of the way to avoid danger – not forming a second lane of motor traffic when the road is busy.

It is unclear how car/bus/lorry drivers are supposed to know whether there is a bicycle ahead of them on the cycle lane or when traffic is stationary, as is often the case in rush hour periods, whether a bicycle is attempting to filter along the cycle lane. When traffic has blocked the cycle lanes, people attempting to use the cycle lanes are either prevented from doing so or (understandably but illegally) choose to cycle on the pavement. As shown in the photograph on the left. Love Your Bike asked CTC, the national cycling organisation, whether they had seen any other local authority in England using these signs or whether they conformed with any Department for Transport guidance. Their response was: "I’ve not heard of any similar sign elsewhere in England (or anywhere else in the UK for that matter).  Nor do I know of any guidance endorsing this approach."

 

Roger Geffen, CTC's Campaigns & Policy Director also highlighted that “Cycle lanes are there to encourage more people to switch from car driving to cycling, for the good of our health and that of our streets, our communities, our atmosphere and our wallets.  Bicycle are extremely efficient users of road-space: a typical-width traffic lane can accommodate 2,000 motor vehicles an hour, or 14,000 bicycles.  Asking drivers to block up cycle lanes completely defeats one of the key reasons for providing them in the first place, namely to reduce congestion on Manchester’s streets.”

These signs are not an appropriate solution as they encourage motorised traffic to drive over cycle lanes and send a very poor message to both the motoring and cycling communities.MCC Highways Service have been asked what they are planning to do to improve this situation..... updates to follow...

Oxford Road closure starts early !

Last year, GMPTE ran a consultation on its plans to remove car traffic from Oxford Road and only permit buses, taxis and bicycles to use a section of the road from Whitworth Park up to the Cornerhhouse. Whilst supportive of the overall plans, many cycling advocacy groups, and reportedly some of the bus companies, were unhappy with the proposed cycling infrastructure designs, and submitted detailed responses.  

The consultation process ended in December 2009 and GMPTE recently confirmed that they had received a significant amount of feedback on the Oxford Rd cycle measures and "as a consequence are reconsidering the design."

GMPTE also confirmed that they will be gathering further views on the best solution for this route, before revised plans are finalised later in the year and that they will formally gathering views from cycling groups on the re-designed scheme. GMPTE are happy to receive any feedback people have but there will be a more formal opportunity to make an informed contribution to the design later in the year.

So you can either send in your comments now or respond to the re-designed scheme later this year. Contact either: consult@gmpte.gov.uk  or  views2009@gmpte.gov.uk

However, given the length of time that Oxford Road will be partially closed for gas main replacement works (see photo), it looks like sections of Oxford Road will be pretty much closed to cars a lot earlier than planned !